DESTINATION AFRICA

Port Byron Police Officer heads to Africa to Help Install Solar Energy Systems

By Anneke Witbeck, Staff Writer

AUBURN-When Jason Wright didn't go to church at SS Peter and John's on May 24, the Rev. Doug Weiss took his father aside after the service.

"Have Jason call me," Weiss said.

Wright, 20, said he thought the priest wanted to ask him to either help him with Sunday school or read in church.

It never crossed his mind that Weiss would ask him to lead a group of 15 people to Uganda to install solar systems in churches and schools around the African country.

The group will be made up largely of 15- to 18-year-olds from all over the country and Wright will be part of a grop of 21- to 26-year-olds expected to oversee the trip.

Travel expenses for the trip are being paid by an anonymous donor and Weiss said the church is working to collect $3,000 to buy six solar energy systems.

Wright will leave for Uganda July 26 and after a brief orientation the group will install its first solar system in a school in Mityana July 30. They will then travel from place to place, staying in guest houses while they install more solar systems.

Not all work, the trip's itinerary includes some games parks, time on the Nile, a visit with Pygmies and a general shopping and sight-seeing.

The furthest south that Wright has ever been is Florida and the furthest west is Minnesota. The most foreign spot he's hit is Canada and he doesn't quite know what to expect when he leaves this continent.

"I just want to go to Africa," Wright said. "I want to see what's it like."

Wright said that before talking to Weiss, his only impressions of Africa were from watching the Discovery Channel. "I thought it would be all flat lands and tribes, he said. Weiss, who went to Africa himself in 1993, explained to Wright that there are run-down cities. But he didn't go into too much detail about squatter-toilets.

"You see what the third world is really like," Weiss said. "It's something that can't be described."

Weiss said he first got to know his young parishioner when Wright expressed an interest in Christian faith.

"That in itself is unusual in people his age," Weiss said.

In addition to his faith, the priest said it was Wright's experience in the Coast Guard, as an Eagle Scout and as a graduate of the Central New York State Police Academy, that caused Weiss to suggest he apply for the trip.

Wright's mother, Sharon, said the scout master always looked to her son for leadership as an Eagle Scout.

Then, and later in the Coast Guard, Wright said he always helped the little guy out.

Wright will continue his quest to help out the little guy or the new guy out as an officer with the Port Byron Police Department, now that he has graduated from the academy.

"I think it's a personality trait," Wright said, "The foundation is from my parents."

Part of that foundation was built watching his father, a firefighter with the Auburn Fire Department, commit his life to community service.

And also by going to church with his parents.

"As far back as I can remember I was brought up in a Christian home," Wright said.

Weiss expects that meeting Christians in Africa will give Wright a new perspective on faith.

"It's people who cannot trust in things of the world, the social situation, the government, the weather, don't have money," Weiss said. "From the human perspective their lives are pretty hopeless, but filled with joy. That will change his life."

PHOTO CAPTION: Sponsored by the Port Byron Police Department, officer Jason Wright gets ready for graduation from the Central New York Police Academy Friday afternoon in Syracuse with the help of fellow graduate and Port Byron police office Michael Quill Jr. Wright will soon be heading to Africa to help install solar energy systems in rural villages. (PHOTO Black and white image of Jason in uniform.)